The Indian health ministry is looking at making it mandatory for all tobacco products to mandatorily carry the number of the National Tobacco Cessation QuitLine-1800 227787. This comes a year and half after the notification making it mandatory for all tobacco packets to carry a pictorial warning covering 85% of the package, came into effect.
We are also planning to print the National Tobacco Cessation QuitLine number (1800-22-77-87) on packets. Also, the text warnings will mention the diseases caused due to consumption of tobacco
The ministry has now also started an exercise to ascertain how effective the existing statutory text and pictorial warnings are. “The aim of the exercise is to find out if the new set of pictures and text warnings are impactful or not. Our teams are going to people and taking their suggestions. We are also planning to print the National Tobacco Cessation QuitLine number (1800-22-77-87) on packets. Also, the text warnings will mention the diseases caused due to consumption of tobacco,,” said a health ministry official.
The tobacco cessation helpline is a dedicated toll-free number that helps tobacco users to receive
free support and guidance to get rid of their addiction.
In October 2014, the ministry had made it
mandatory for manufacturers to display health warnings on 85 per cent of the main display area on the packets of all tobacco products. The move ran foul not just of the tobacco industry but also a panel of Parliamentarians on whose recommendation it was put on hold. After a long battle fought mainly by anti tobacco activists, it was on the orders of the Rajasthan High Court that the ministry finally notified that the changes warning guidelines would have to come into effect from April 2016.
According to the second Global Adult Tobacco Survey
(GATS-2) published in June, tobacco use has gone down by six percentage points from 34.6 per cent of the country’s adult population in 2009-10 to 28.6 per cent in 2016-17. The report said the number of tobacco users in
India has gone down by 81 lakh. Tobacco use among young people (aged between 15 and 24) reduced from 18.4 per cent in GATS-1 to 12.4 per cent in
GATS-2. Also, there was an increase of one year in the mean age at initiation of tobacco use from 17.9 years in 2009-10 to 18.9 years in 2016-17, the report said.
The survey revealed that 19 per cent of men, 2 per cent
of women, and 10.7 per cent of all adults smoke tobacco, while 29.6 per cent of men, 12.8 per cent of women and 21.4 per cent of all adults use smokeless tobacco.
It also mentioned that 28.6 per cent of all adults (26.7 crore) use tobacco in some form or other.
